Official BYC Poll: Where Did You Get Your Coop & Run From?

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? Climate matters so people can give better-targeted advice when you ask questions if you put your location into your profile.

That's wonderfully well built!

Though in my climate a clear roof would turn it into an oven.

 

[Tawanda84]

Searched marketplace and found nice used coop for $25, five miles away. Bought furniture crating and made a run 16 x 4 x 4, married coop to the run.
About $200, 25 hours unskilled labor.

Sadly, our hardware and wood door, with metal latch proved vulnerable night before last to coon attack. The last of my four red hens died and the door had swung wide open. Bitter to love these little sweet things and to lose them. Thanks for the advice and support. I miss my four brave hens. R.I.P.

 

[BDutch]

Sadly, our hardware and wood door, with metal latch proved vulnerable night before last to coon attack. The last of my four red hens died and the door had swung wide open. Bitter to love these little sweet things and to lose them. Thanks for the advice and support. I miss my four brave hens. R.I.P.

So sorry for your losses .
Do you want to buy new chickens now? For the racoon you just need to improve the run with a lock on the door.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Some salvaged materials some new material.

 

[Alderen]

We started with a coop we purchased from TSC. We naively believed it when the description said 8 - 10 chickens. We found out VERY quickly that it might hold 8 - 10 small breed chickens but not 6 "regular" size chickens. We built the girls a coop/run that was bigger for them and easier to maintain for me. We're going to keep the smaller coop/run and use it as a brooder if/when we get more baby chicks.

 

[Tawanda84]

So sorry for your losses .
Do you want to buy new chickens now? For the racoon you just need to improve the run with a lock on the door.

No, but thank you for the condolences. The door was weakened so that the predator just yanked and it bent, the latch did not break. So the door also needs reinforced, it is about 24" by 18 ". I miss my fab Four but have a mate who is ailing. So lonesome where the girls were. Keep on loving 'em

 

[GodLovesU]

My coop was made new, but the run is dog kennel panels.

 

[ChookaPete]

I have gone through a few coop designs, all of which were built from scratch from old materials. And now I am thinking of building a new coop.


The first coop was a square cubby house made of old wooden pallets and star pickets, built into the corner of my backyard against the side fence and tool shed. My pullets roosted on branches I laid across the gaps between the pallet planks. I nicknamed the coop the 'Nesting Nook'.

The second coop was repurposed from part of a daybed I had bought to use inside the house. I bolted parts of it into an arch and covered the outside with mesh and then shadecloth. The idea was for it to provide shade throughout the day. But soon I found them all roosting on top of it! They would even sleep on top of it during rain at night!

The third coop was that shade arch that I leaned against the side of the first coop, then bolted it down. The tool shed formed the back wall of this coop. I made a small ladder out of wooden branches so they could climb up. The chooks would roost on the edge of the Nesting Nook as a ledge. This ledge became a problem because they ended up roosting amongst their poop, which I considered to be unhygienic, and was a nightmare to clean.

The fourth coop, the current coop, is a corner of my tool shed. I closed off the corner with wooden pallets as walls, then square mesh up to the roof. One section has tree netting hanging down as a door, secured by hooking it over long screws. Inside the coop is a large tree branch that sits horizontally across the corner, about 1.5m off the ground. This is their perch. I built a big ladder out of branches and screws, that they climb up to get to the perch for roosting at night.
There is straw and dead leaves on the floor to catch the poop, which I muck out and replace when required.
I cut a hole in the side of the shed for their doorway - they enter the coop by first walking through the Nesting Nook (their first coop, on the opposite side of the shed wall, outside), then through the doorway.


I really like this coop, however I am thinking to build a separate small shed for them with nesting boxes and a big perch, for a new coop.

 

[Island Coppers]

The coop I built was made with lots of recycled material and some new. A new run is in the works.